My concern with this issue is very much grounded in California's
attempts to turn the megatanker of public education without overextending
the budget of those with plenty of money.
Our teachers, kids, and families are getting caught in a vice. On the
one hand, cutoff points are being raised and tests are getting more
rigorous. The support for getting kids over this higher bar comes mostly
in a feint at smaller class sizes (a lot of shadow "small classes" are
being created along with rotten study/working conditions) and mandatory
afterschool/summer classes are being created.
In Fresno where I work with people the kids are being kept until 6pm
and the local teachers are pressed to work longer hours and there is
no real budget to feed the kids. So school personel and local merchants
team up to see that the kids are fed, with principals and vice principals
acting as cooks and bus drivers and and...... 5 days a week.
Its not a pretty site, although I tremendously admire the people who are
breaking their hearts and bodies trying to make a differences for the kids.
20+ years of undersupporting teachers, families and kids around education
is not an easy trend to reverse. Maybe an omlette is being made. What
I see are a lot of cracked and gooey eggs!
mike